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Carbon footprint of your prints: where to find it and how to set it up

SimplyPrint can estimate the carbon footprint of each finished FDM print: the filament it used plus the electricity it took to print it, in grams or kilograms of CO₂e. This guide explains what the number means, how to turn it on, where to find it, and how to make it more accurate with your own figures.



What the carbon footprint is

Making filament and running a printer both release greenhouse gases. The carbon footprint adds up how much a print caused, in CO₂e (CO₂ equivalent): every greenhouse gas counted as the amount of CO₂ with the same warming effect.


A print's footprint has two parts:


  • Filament: the greenhouse gases caused by making the filament the print used, from raw material to the finished spool. SimplyPrint multiplies the grams used by a figure per kg of that filament.
  • Electricity: the energy the printer used while printing, multiplied by how much CO₂e your electricity causes per kWh.


SimplyPrint adds nothing for packaging, shipping, post-processing or building the printer; a manufacturer's figure may include its own spool and box.


Only FDM printers get a footprint. Prints logged on a virtual machine (resin, laser, CNC and so on) do not.


A failed or cancelled print counts the filament it actually used, just like the print cost does. The footprint is saved when the print ends, so it stays the same in your history even if you change your settings later. Editing a print's filament, times or outcome recalculates it with your current settings. Prints added with a bulk import get no footprint.


Turn on carbon footprints

Carbon footprints are off until you turn them on.


  1. Go to Settings > Energy and carbon.
  2. Switch on Show carbon footprints.


Footprints are saved for every print that finishes after the feature launched, even while the setting is off, so those prints show a footprint as soon as you switch it on. Older prints have none, unless you edit their filament, times or outcome. Switching it off hides the footprint again everywhere in the panel.


Where to find it

The Carbon footprint row in the Print info box on a print's page


  • On a print's page: open a print from Print history. The Print info box shows the carbon footprint under the print cost. Hover the ? next to it to see each filament with its figure and where that figure came from, the electricity part, and a comparison with an everyday activity.
  • In Print history: click View above the table and turn on the Carbon footprint column. Hover a value for the same breakdown.
  • In the export: the print history CSV export has the total (kg CO₂e), whether every part was counted, and the full breakdown.
  • On the statistics page: a Carbon footprint total next to the other totals, a chart per day split into filament and electricity, and a chart per material. They follow the page's filters for dates, members and printers. Without a chosen date range, the charts show the last 7 days and the total covers all time.
  • On dashboards: add a Carbon footprint statistic, or the Carbon footprint per day and Carbon footprint by material graphs, to any dashboard of your own account.
  • In material profiles: the material form gets a Carbon footprint per kg field (see below).


The statistics page is part of the Pro plan and above, and the CSV export of the Print Farm plan and above.


How the filament part is worked out

For each filament a print used, SimplyPrint picks the most specific figure it has, in this order:


  1. Your own figure on the material profile, if you have entered one (see the next section).
  2. The manufacturer's published figure, when the spool or its material profile is linked to the filament database and the brand publishes a carbon footprint for it. Prusament publishes figures for its PETG and recycled PETG, for example.
  3. A typical figure for the material, or for its recycled version, where the Open Filament Database has one. The breakdown calls it "typical figure" (or "typical recycled figure").
  4. No figure otherwise. The grams are still shown, but they add nothing to the total, and the total is marked as a minimum.


Very few brands publish a carbon footprint yet, so for most filament you will want to enter your own figure on the material profile.


Find the carbon footprint per kg for a material

The figure is how many kg of CO₂e it took to make 1 kg of the filament. For common plastics it is usually a few kg CO₂e per kg.


Where to look:


  • The manufacturer's website. Look for a "product carbon footprint" (PCF), a "life cycle assessment" (LCA) or an "environmental product declaration" (EPD). These are often on a sustainability page or in the product's downloads.
  • Your supplier or distributor. Larger suppliers can often send the manufacturer's figure on request.
  • The manufacturer directly. Ask for the "cradle-to-gate carbon footprint per kg of filament". That phrase tells them exactly which number you need.


Check three things before you enter it:


  • It is per kg of filament, not per spool. A figure per 1 kg spool is the same number. For a 750 g spool, divide it by 0.75.
  • It covers making the filament, not only the plastic pellets it is made from. A figure for pellets alone is too low.
  • It is the footprint before any offsets. A filament marketed as "carbon neutral" because of tree planting or offsets still has a footprint. Use the figure before the offset, or leave the field empty.


Enter it:


The Carbon footprint per kg field in the material profile form


  1. Go to Settings > Filament > Material profiles.
  2. Click the pencil icon next to the material, or click Add material to create a new profile.
  3. Enter the figure in Carbon footprint per kg, in kg CO₂e per kg of filament.
  4. Click Save (or Create for a new profile).


New prints with that material use your figure from now on. Leave the field empty to go back to the manufacturer's figure or the typical figure, where there is one.


The figure applies to every spool that uses the material profile, in every colour. If a brand publishes a different figure for one colour, such as a recycled version, give that colour its own material profile.


How the electricity part is worked out

The electricity part is your printer's power consumption, multiplied by how long the print took, multiplied by your electricity source's CO₂e per kWh. A 120 W printer running for 2 hours uses 0.24 kWh, for example.


Set the power consumption under Settings > Energy and carbon > Power consumption, in watts, for the whole account. Your printer's manufacturer often publishes an average for printing PLA and other materials. Use that rather than the power supply's maximum rating, which is far higher than what a printer uses on average.


To use a different figure for one printer, open Print cost settings in that printer's settings, untick Use account default settings, switch on Electricity: usage and enter its power consumption. A printer without its own power consumption uses the account's.


Setting a printer's own power consumption is part of the Print Farm plan and above.


Without a power consumption, the electricity part is left out and the total shows "≥" (see below).


Choose your electricity source

The Electricity source setting, set to the grid in your country


Under Settings > Energy and carbon, pick your Electricity source (shown once carbon footprints are switched on):


  • The grid in my country (the default). SimplyPrint uses the yearly average for your account's country and shows the figure below the setting, for example "Denmark average: 120 g CO₂e per kWh in 2025, from your account's country". Most accounts can leave it here. For a country without data, the world average is used.
  • My own sources, plus the grid. Choose this if you know where part of your power comes from, for example solar panels on your roof. Click Add a source, pick the source and enter its share. Whatever your sources don't cover is the grid in your country, shown as "the rest". Your sources can add up to 100% at most, and SimplyPrint shows the result straight away.
  • A figure from my electricity supplier. Enter the CO₂e per kWh your supplier states on your bill or contract, for example for a renewable-energy contract.


30% solar and 20% wind, with the grid covering the rest


The country is your account's country, not where a printer's internet connection appears to be. If your printers are in a different country from your account, enter your supplier's figure, or add your own sources that cover 100%.


The setting applies to the whole account and to new prints from the moment you save it.


When the total is a minimum

A "≥" in front of a total means part of the print could not be counted, so the real footprint is at least that much:


  • one of the filaments has no figure (see how the filament part is worked out),
  • no filament use was recorded for the print, so only the electricity is counted, or
  • the printer has no power consumption set, so the electricity is missing.


If none of the print's filaments has a figure, the total shows No filament figure instead of a number, because the electricity alone would look like the whole footprint.


Hover the value in Print history, or the ? on a print's page, to see which part is missing. Entering a figure on the material profile or setting the power consumption fixes it for new prints.


Putting the number in perspective

A gram figure on its own says little, so the breakdown compares it with everyday things:


  • Driving: the total as a distance in an average car, at 0.17 kg CO₂e per km (the UK government's 2025 conversion factor for an average car). Accounts that use US units see miles.
  • Electricity: the print's electricity as the hours a 10 W LED bulb could run on it.


A comparison for a total that starts with "≥" says "at least", for the same reason as the total.


Using the numbers with customers

The carbon footprint is an estimate, meant to compare prints and track your own impact over time. If you pass it on to a customer, describe it as what it is: an estimate of the filament (from raw material to finished spool) plus the modelled electricity of printing, without shipping, without packaging unless the manufacturer's figure includes it, and not checked by an independent verifier.


Do not use the carbon footprint to call a product "climate neutral", "carbon neutral" or "CO₂ neutral". Offsets are never subtracted from it, and in the EU such claims based on offsetting are not allowed in consumer marketing.


Where the figures come from

  • Filament: brands' published figures and typical figures per material, both collected with their source in the Open Filament Database, plus your own figures on material profiles.
  • Country electricity averages: Ember's yearly electricity data (CC BY 4.0), for each country's total generation.
  • Electricity sources: the typical lifecycle figure for each source from the IPCC (the UN's climate panel), for example 41 g CO₂e per kWh for rooftop solar and 820 g for coal.
  • The driving comparison: the UK government's greenhouse gas conversion factors for 2025.


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Updated on: 10/11/2026

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